News Center

Share This with Friends!

Southeast Georgia Health System Camden Campus Named 2013 Small Hospital of the Year

October 18, 2013

The Southeast Georgia Health System Camden Campus was named the “2013
Small Hospital of the Year” at the Georgia Alliance of Community
Hospitals (GACH) 30thAnnual Conference held Oct. 15-18 at the Ritz-Carlton
Lodge, Reynolds Plantation Lake Oconee Trail in Greensboro, Ga.

The Southeast Georgia Health System Camden Campus was presented the award,
in the small hospital category (150 beds or fewer), for providing quality
patient care to Camden County and the surrounding area through its outstanding
services and continuing support for the local community.

“This prestigious award is made possible by the vision of our Hospital
Authority board and the Camden Campus Advisory board, as well as our physicians
and team members’ dedication to providing quality patient care,”
said Gary R. Colberg, FACHE, president & CEO, Southeast Georgia Health
System. “The Camden Campus is an outstanding example of how a small
community hospital can provide excellent care and how working together
works!”

The Camden Campus was honored for enhancing quality health care in a number
of areas, including the opening of the Cancer Care Center on the Camden
Campus, a service line that was not previously available to residents
of this region. Now, cancer patients no longer have to travel far from
home to receive expert diagnosis, treatment and follow-up care. Cancer
care is provided by a team of experts representing all facets of oncology
and includes chemotherapy/biotherapy infusion and injection services,
imaging and radiation therapy. A linear accelerator delivers intensity-modulated
radiation therapy to provide the most advanced and precise external beam
radiation therapy available in Camden County.

“This is a tremendous honor and we are delighted to be named Small
Hospitalof the Year,” said Howard W. Sepp Jr., FACHE, vice president
and administrator, Camden Campus. “I feel that I speak for our entire
Health System when I say we feel privileged to be entrusted with the health
and well being of the CamdenCountyand surrounding areas.”

The award also recognized the Camden Campus for reducing the number of
early elective deliveries (EEDs), which include medically unnecessary
inductions and cesarean deliveries scheduled before 39 weeks of pregnancy.
As a result of the Health System’s participation in the Georgia
Hospital Association (GHA) Hospital Engagement Network’s (HEN) EED
Collaborative, and work with the Georgia Department of Public Health and
the March of Dimes, the Health System was able to reduce the number of
EEDs by 22.2 percent at the Maternity Care Center on the Camden Campus.
Eliminating medically unnecessary early deliveries improves the health
of newborns and can reduce the risk of cerebral palsy and learning disabilities
that can occur in infants born prematurely.

The Camden Campus was also cited for its community health promotion events,
including BONEtastic Saturday, Heart Health Day, SKINtastic Saturday and
Men’s Health Fairs. Through these events, health and cancer screenings
are available to those who otherwise could not afford to be tested. In
addition, the Wellness on Wheels (WOW) mobile health vehicle travels to
outlying rural areas providing digital mammograms to underserved and uninsured
women in a four-county area, and free weekly blood pressure and blood
sugar screenings are offered at the W.H. “Bill” Gross Health
Information Center.

Another long-term project acknowledged by GACH in presenting the award
is the Camden Campus Coastal Medical Access Project (CMAP), which provides
free health care, including dental and vision, to uninsured and underinsured
adults in Camden, Glynn and McIntosh counties, and the Community Care
Center, which provides pediatric and adolescent primary care for Medicaid
patients who reside in Brantley, Camden, Glynn, McIntosh and Wayne counties.
With a mostly bilingual staff, the Center is often the provider of choice
for the southeast Georgia Hispanic population.